Since last summer, I have been working as a freelancer for Oslo Business Memo, going to complete a year as this blog is published online; just saying! As a guest speaker in the Oslo Media House conference meeting, I started a report on my Master thesis covering the life of transgender people and understanding gender dysphoria. Oslo Media House introduced me to Oslo Business Memo, where I began working as a magazine reporter and photographer and contributing to their conference streaming activities. Right after that, they challenged me to write a blog post about my life in Norway.
I enjoy writing, but I never shared my work on any platform before. Writing a blog post would be the last thing. I think the difficult part is at the beginning as you pen down your thoughts and life experience to the world, and you are not sure if anyone is making an effort to hear from you, unlike my photography website where I publish my work and the projects I made as a learning process.
I took blogging as a challenge from my workplace. In my head, I kept repeating it just ten times the Instagram caption. Instagram is about my pictures and projects, and the caption describes the goal behind the project. My first blog post is so honest and amateur. It feels like, “Dear diary, you have just been exposed to the world!”. But I am quite unsure if anyone actually has read it, and someone would actually read this?
Thoughts aside, a content creator comes in many forms on digital platforms, “creators can choose” writing blogs, video blogging, visuals, slide decks, and podcasts. I quoted creators can choose because they actually have a choice, unlike mine, to blog, and there was my next challenge, podcast. I knew the technical skills and had the right equipment. The part I was not sure about was how I sound.
I have tried the radio during my Broadcast journalism study, and I cringe whenever I edit my voice. All I want to say, "Hello, my name is Chaitra, and this is how I sound! Sorry and please bear with me for the next thirty minutes of your life". Jokes apart, I am really trying to be myself as I engage with guest speakers and decide not to cease my laugh and wish that people accept how I sound.
The early days of the pandemic when I got involved in the project where OBM Broadcast – a multimedia concept run by Oslo Business Memo – started to produce the podcast "The Oslo Mediapod" in collaboration with Oslo Media House. This podcast aims to catch up with speakers and members of Oslo Media Houses during the time of the Covid-19 quarantine. OBM Broadcast established a digital version of the podcast studio, where all participants are homebound.
This is the OBM Broadcast´s Podcast Workflow:
1. Our podcast studio: Skype on your mac/pc
2. Plug earphones to mac/pc
3. Audio recording: Smartphone voice recorder, approx 15-20 cm from your mouth, avoid background noise, keep away from pc fan.
4. After end podcast: Upload your voice record attached to mail or file on the Skype chat group after the call ends.
5. The producer syncs the different audio recordings and edits the podcast with music, headlines, etc.
6. The podcast episode is published
Creating a podcast can be time-consuming in terms of waiting time for the appointment with guest speakers, researching about them, and training your vocal. Hosting a podcast, including interviews with guests who are real experts in the field of journalism, was the best way to extend my connection. The guest list had names of journalists overseas like Australia, Denmark, New York, Rwanda, and it was my pleasure to interview to meet them virtually.
Last week, I had the privilege to interview renowned Norwegian journalist Annette Groth known as "Voice of London". The interview took place at the Oslo Media House's multimedia studio, in the space that accommodates conference events with up to 110 delegates. But that was before Covid-19. And yes, it is the same space where I began my journey in OMH, where I presented my documentary about the transgender community in India at Oslo Media Meeting 2019. The podcast with Annette went well, I missed a few follow-up questions, and yes, I am still new and learning my way. You can judge the result yourself by listening to "The Oslo Mediapod" below.